Credit crunch hits Russia’s richest in the pocket

The recent losses of Russia's richest businessmen, in the wake of the meltdown of the worlds equities markets, and ensuing financial chaos, have been calculated by Smart Money magazine. If the upside of being a wealthy business men is that you have loads

Aluminium tycoon, Oleg Deripaska, tops the list with his net worth being pared back by an estimated $24 Billion, while 9 more magnates have seen the value of their assets shrink by more than $9 Billion.

Deripaska’s woes have been compounded by difficulties he is having in refinancing some of the loans taken out when the markets were still lending. In recent weeks these troubles have seen him hand over his stakes in Canadian car parts manufacturer Magna, and German construction company Hochtieff when his capacity to refinance the deals, which had seen him take them initially, slipped from his grasp.

But the real interest at the moment is in his 25% Norilsk Nickel stake, with increasing speculation that if he cant soon find funding to refinance his acquisition from Mikhail Prokhorov it may also be handed over.

Second on the list is NLMK majority shareholder Vladimir Lisin. According to Smart Money the market collapse has trimmed an estimated $22 Billion from his net worth. Also revising net valuations downwards are Severstal's Aleksey Mordashov, who is now valued at $16.6 billion less than he was last year, and the former Chukotka governor and Chelsea Football club owner, Roman Abramovich, who’s net worth is down $15.1 billion.